I have been playing around with the $1 solar sidewalk lights from the Dollar store again. If you remove all the stuff, metal top cover and stakes, you end up with only the collector, light defuser and LED. I cut off the extension that the stakes slide on. I built a lamp housing with a hole the same size in the top. A little Goop seals it and keeps it in place. This is a prototype, pending the approval of the CEO........wife. 

 

I have other ideas in the mix and will show that soon

Cool!

I like that, although I'd probably put frosted panels in the openings so that the output isn't as stark. I made a solar light ornament for a fund raiser - the solar light was disguised to look like a bamboo Tiki Light and had the "flickering flame" effect which was pretty realistic. I've had the idea of making some wooden lanterns for the deck that use similar flickering solar lights, may pursue once I find one that's more easily modified to use. They also make 120V flickering bulbs, and I've been asked to make a lantern using one for a friend's rec room bar as a decoration.